Edsin's Own 2: Xenos Scum
by AK-4142
Summary: Traitor-Sergeant Edsin and Company are back, and this time they'll fight for Chaos against some of the deadliest beings in the universe. Based on the concept of Black Crusade and the sequel to Edsin's Own.
1. Chapter 1

Traitor-Sergeant Edsin slowly opened his eyes. Something had woken him up. He could hear the same constant drizzle on the scrap metal roof above him that he'd heard when he'd passed out so it wasn't the sound that had woken him up. He looked at his surrounding when he felt something cold and wet hit this forehead. He frowned and looked at the ceiling about him to see where a leak had formed. Unable to sleep as he slowly woke up completely, he rolled off the bed and pulled on his boots, armor and grabbed his weapon. Three minutes later he was fully alert and stepped out into the pouring rain.

It was light outside, though given the perpetual grey of the sky, the traitor-sergeant hardly noticed. Edsin wasn't sure how long he'd been on this world, but he knew it'd been raining the entire time. He thought. He couldn't really remember and decided that he didn't care. He crawled out of the dirt bunker he'd been sleeping in and began moving through the trench works.

However long they had been here, it had been long enough to dig these trenches and put up some tarps that didn't quite keep out the rain Edsin noted as he shuffled past a pair of cultists wearing the long tan raincoats popular on this world. They were carrying a crate of mortar rounds and Edsin had no doubt that they'd need them soon. He moved past them and towards the frontline. For a fortification in the 41st millennium, the battlements were surprisingly quiet, their enemies weren't attacking presently, and they didn't have the manpower or equipment to mount one of their own. Edsin reached the frontline trench and got down prone and crawled into the observation ditch covered by a tarp.

"Anything?" He asked the man already laying down there. The man twitched in surprise and turned his head to face him. Edsin was greeted with a familiar smiling face.

"Good morning Sergeant." Irritus said. Edsin managed a nod in return and pointed to the tree line some six meters away.

"Any movement?" He asked. Irritus shook his head but didn't stop smiling.

"None at all. A bit odd for orks, but then that's orks for you." The cultist said. Edsin frowned, the news wasn't reassuring but he decided he didn't care. He noticed that Irritus was looking behind them. Edsin looked over his shoulder to see a figure in power armor approach them. After a moment Edsin recognized the person.

"Morning hun." The power armored woman said as she came up to the back of the ditch. Irritus crawled out and gave her a kiss on the cheek.

"Good morning, how'd you sleep?" The cultist asked. The woman blushed.

"Fine, here I brought you some recaff." She handed Irritus a cup and the cultist took it gladly. Edsin crawled out of the ditch and the former sister of battle acknowledged him. "Good morning sergeant." Edsin grunted in reply.

"Any word from the host Maria?" He asked. Maria shook her head.

"Still nothing since they left last month." She replied. "Looks like we'll be stuck babysitting this refinery for a while." Part of Edsin was disappointed that they were stuck here, the other part hadn't been aware that they'd been here that long. He decided that he didn't really care on either point and noticed that there was another pair of voices slowly getting louder through the rain.

"Believe me, you would find yourself between 118 and 122 percent more effective than you are now." The first voice said.

"Doesn't mean that I won't melt it next time I need to burn something." A second voice said. Edsin saw two more people in tan raincoats come through the haze of the rain. One was taller and had the sleeves of the raincoat rolled up. The other was completely wrapped up in the coat and Edsin could see where half of the man's face was metal. Irritus smiled as they approached.

Datave, Alain good morning. Are you two here to take over for me?" The cultist asked. Datave nodded to Irritus while the taller one, Alain, nodded to Edsin.

"Morning sergeant." Edsin gave the psyker a nod and Datave addressed the cultist.

"Any movement from the orks?" The heretek asked. Irritus shook his head.

"No, it's been quiet. I think that-" Irritus never finished that sentence. Before he could there was a loud, throaty sound. The sound came from the tree line about six hundred meters away. A sound that all five of the traitors knew too well.

"WAAAAAAAAHH!"

~/~/~

Immediately all five of the heretics sprang into action. Edsin cursed under his breath and unslung his lasgun, angry for the fifth time that week that he'd lost his hellgun. He took up a firing position along the trench and motioned to Irritus. The cultist nodded. Irritus grabbed a crude flare gun, aimed it at the grey raining sky, and pulled the trigger. Datave dove into the heavy bolter position next to the observation ditch and began putting the weapon into operation. As the flare exploded in the sky to warn the other chaos worshippers about the attack Irritus climbed into the position to help the hereteck. Maria took off towards the rest of the fortifications to retrieve her heavy bolter, the weapon was too large to carry through the trenches normally. Alain unslung a lasgun as well, his psychic abilities no use at this range, and took up a position next to Edsin.

"Good way to start the morning eh sergeant?" Alain asked with a smile. Edsin took the safety off of his lasgun and looked down the sights.

"Shut the hell up."

**A/N: The Warhammer 40,000 series belongs to Games Workshop, and NOT me. **


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I've been getting some great feedback right out of the gate on this one so thanks everybody. Keep telling me what you think. **

"WAAAAAARGH!" The hideous cry rang out all across the battlefield as the heretics brought up their weapons. Next to Edsin more cultist and traitor guard filed into the trench and put took aim. Between the rain and the distance the traitor-sergeant couldn't make out any individual orks, only the black-green mass of them. The advantage here was that they couldn't miss. While a far cry from the massed, drilled firing lines of the Imperial Guard that Edsin had come from, there was an appreciable amount of red colored energy arching out at the charging orks.

Edsin and Alain pulled the triggers on their lasguns as fast as they could; while next to them Datave kept up a steady stream of bolter fire. Irritus was next to him in the position, attaching new belts to the one in the weapon. The traitors heard whistles above them and watched mortar rounds impact into the middle of the greenskin formation. They exploded and sent groups of the savage creatures flying. Those still on the ground kept running at them however and had moved close enough to use their crude weapons. Edsin and Alain ducked below the trench line to avoid the first volley of shoota fire. The rounds whizzed by over their heads then the two traitors stood back up and resumed firing.

The orks were close enough now that Edsin could pick out individual ones. He adjusted his aim to focus on the creatures' heads and kept firing. He downed an ork or two, but they had closed to within a hundred meters.

"Rapid Fire." He yelled to Alain and any cultists that might listen. He suited action to words by flipping the selector lever on his lasgun and holding down the trigger. "Irritus." He yelled as the orks closed to within 50 meters. The cultist looked up from the ammo belt he was holding and scrambled for something in the trench. H pulled a chainsword out of a bundle and tossed it to Edsin yelling.

"Sergeant!" Edsin dropped his lasgun and caught the melee weapon. He pressed the activation rune and looked to see an ork coming over the trench and swinging a crude axe at him. Edsin dogged to the right and brought the chainsword down on his attackers forearm. Even with the moving blades he had to put all of his strength into the attack to cut through the arm. The greenskin roared in anger at his missing limb and leaned forward to punch the traitor-sergeant with the fist he still had. Edsin ducked under that attack. With his free had he grabbed the orks kit and pulled the creature that was already leaning forward into the trench next to him. The ork fell face first and before he could get up Edsin stepped on his back. With both hands on his chainsword he cut off the alien's head at the neck. Victorious for a moment he looked to see how his comrades were doing.

Alain was busy with a pair of orks himself. He'd dropped his lasgun as well and Edsin saw that his pupils were wide and his eyes seemed glazed over. He watched the psyker grab an attacking orks hand at the wrist. Alain's hand looked like any other man's but where it touched the xenos wrist the green skin had gone black and was cracking. As he burned through that orks arm another greenskin took aim at him with a blocky looking pistol. Alain's head snapped around to look at the ork. He pointed at the creature with his other hand and before the ork could pull the trigger its clothing burst into flames. The ork began thrashing about before falling into the trench where another cultist finished it off. He turned back to the first and put his free hand on its face. Edsin watched the ork skin melt under the psykers touch.

A sound like feedback from a vox caster caught Edsin's attention and he looked in the direction of the noise to see Datave squaring off against a group of grots. The smaller orkiods were trying to remove him from the heavy bolter position. For his part, the heretek seemed unconcerned. He continued to hold down the trigger of the heavy bolter with his human hand while the fingertips of his mechanical hand sparked, shocking any of the grots that got close enough. One of them snuck up behind Irritus and latched onto his right arm. The cultist screamed out in alarm and flailed around, trying to pull the grot off. He finally managed to succeed and tossed the alien in front of the heavy bolter. The large caliber rounds tore it apart.

A throaty grunt brought Edsin back to his own problems. An ork came over the trench and Edsin saw that it was good head larger than the others. It looked down at him and raised a metal claw that was its right hand. Edsin revved his chainsword and the ork lunged at him…Only to fall backwards as a hail of bolter rounds ripped its chest open. Edsin spun around to see Maria running up to him, heavy bolter in hand.

"Looks like you guys got started without me." The former sister of battle said jumping into the trench next to Edsin. The traitor-sergeant shrugged and checked the fuel on his chainsword. Irritus had topped it off, but cutting through the orks arm had burned through more than he'd liked. He wouldn't be able to cut through that much again. Maria let off another burst and Edsin used the dead ork next to him as a stepping stool to get out of the trench.

As he climbed out Edsin swung his chainsword in a low attack that sliced off the foot of an ork another traitor guardsman was fighting. The ork stumbled and the guardsman used the opportunity to ram his bayonet into the orks eye. Another ork came at him, this one fat and holding a choppa as long as Edsin's arm. He slashed at him sideways and Edsin had to grab his weapon with both hands to parry the attack. He deactivated his chainsword and let the edge of the choppa slide in between the teeth of the weapon. The ork chuckled and leaned into the attack, knowing he was stronger than the human he was facing. Edsin took one hand off his chainsword and reached down. By the time the ork noticed he was doing something, mud was already flying at his face. The ork instantly dropped the choppa and tried to pull the mud off his eyes. Edsin wasted no time and reactivated his weapon. As the ork cleared its vision, Edsin sliced into its large gut. Organs the traitor-sergeant didn't recognize spilled out into the mud. Edsin thrust the chainsword into the opening he'd just cut and cut up to the orks throat, spilling more guts. He removed his weapon and the ork starred at him in what might have been surprise for a moment before falling backwards.

To his horror, Edsin saw that his kill had attracted four more orks. He took a step back, trying to face all of them at once but they knew they had him outnumbered. As they got closer Edsin became aware of a faint humming sound. It got louder and louder until it was deafening. Something was right above him but he didn't dare look up. Then, all at once, they were there. A blur of dark red and silver ceramite fell from above and they were in the mist of the orks. Chaos Raptors.

"Thank the Dark Gods!" Edsin heard Irritus yell. Edsin revved his chainsword and lunged at the closest ork. Now they had a chance.


	3. Chapter 3

With the attack routed Edsin was experiencing the combined feelings of being wet, tired, and covered in ork blood. He leaned against the side of a trench, thankfully under a tarp and took a drink from a canteen. He watched Irritus working his way down the trench carrying a pair of large ammo cans from the refinery proper and the ammo dump there. Datave had the heavy bolter dissembled and was cleaning it while Alain and Maria were helping a pair of traitor guardsmen ensure that all the fallen Orks were really dead. Edsin took another drink and returned the canteen to where he'd taken it from Irritus's kit.

"How much did you get?" He asked as the cultist reached the heavy bolter position. Irritus put the can next to the dissembled weapon and ducked under the tarp next to Edsin.

"2400 rounds give or take. With the host back there's plenty to go around." The cultist was all smiles. Edsin couldn't understand his happiness and didn't care to. He leaned forward and adjusted his armor. The old carapace had belonged to a stormtrooper before he had owned it. He'd repainted the sigil like on his original, but it didn't feel quite the same as his old set. He thought. He couldn't remember, and after a moment he decided that he didn't care. His thoughts were interrupted by a clicking sound coming down the trench. Edsin turned to see something truly strange.

The being coming down the trench looked like any other guardsman, only 'wrong.' They appeared to be a woman and were just a little taller than humans naturally got, though certainly not as tall as any space marine. Slender arms accompanied the woman's height and Edsin was reminded of the voidborn he'd met, although those too never looked quite this...off. She wore flak armor, but it was in an odd design. Pale skin, long black hair, and an augmented right eye that glowed a strange shade of green topped off the ensemble. The woman walked into their part of the trench, blocky augments on her feet making the clicking Edsin decided, and approached Irritus.

"Who is in command here?" She asked the cultist in a voice that was normal but again, somehow wrong. Irritus's smile got even wider and he motioned to Edsin.

"The sergeant here." Edsin wasn't sure he liked Irritus fingering him, but as the strange woman looked at him he decided it was too late to care either way.

"Sergeant, you were leading the defense here?" Edsin looked at her for a moment before nodding. The strange woman smiled. "Excellent. You are to be commended, the vile creatures are an affront to the gods and your skill has seen many killed." Edsin simply starred back at the speaker. After several long seconds of silence, she cleared her throat and spoke again. "For this reason, I have been tasked out to find you and instruct you to report to the Apostle."

While Irritus was visibly excited by the news, Edsin hardly moved his eyebrows. He looked around at their position, noting that all the eyes of the traitors were now on him. He shook his head.

"There's too much work to be done before were ready for another attack, tell your master I can't leave." The strange woman shook her head and said.

"I am instructed to tell you that these instructions are not optional." He could kill her, Edsin realized. He could grab his chainsword from where it rested against the trench and lob off this strangers head right here and now and forget about the whole thing. He could, but he had an audience. If any of them cared enough to tell the Dark Apostle what had happened to his messenger, he would find himself on the wrong end of a sacrifice. After a moment he shrugged and looked over to where Alain and Maria were cutting the head off a dead ork.

"Alain, get over here. I need you to come with me." He turned back to the messenger. "Where can I find the Apostle?"

~/~/~

Traitor-Sergeant Edsin had never spoken directly to a Space Marine, let alone a Dark Apostle, and he had little ambition too. The strange woman's message, however, was forcing him to so he now found himself and Alain climbing out of the trenchworks and heading into the refinery proper. Edsin was unsure of what to expect in the Apostle, but decided that he'd find out soon enough and put any apprehension from his head.

The refinery itself was busy the way only a chaos instillation could be. Workers in thick protective gear moved along the various catwalks between massive promethium tanks. Some were free to move about, but Edsin noticed that most were chained to their stations. There were cultists of course, some crawling on the catwalks and around the machines running errands for the chaos marines or setting up offerings to the Dark Gods. Many were moving in and out of the compound, carrying empty ammo cans out of the trenches and fresh ammunition back to the traitor guard there. There were chaos marines as well; Edsin saw them in groups of twos and threes as well as the odd squad. He spotted the raptors from the battle earlier surrounded by some heretecks making adjustments to their armor and jump packs.

"I wonder what it's like wearing all that armor." Alain commented noticing Edsin's gaze. The traitor-sergeant shrugged and looked for the structure the Apostle was supposed to be at. He spotted the refineries shrine to the Emperor, now desecrated beyond salvation with most of the Imperial iconography removed or painted over with sigils of various size and color. He motioned to the psyker and Alain nodded.

"When we're in there, if something doesn't feel right to you, let me know right away." He said to Alain. The Psyker nodded and the two men made for the shrine. Edsin had no idea of what to expect, but knowing the nature of chaos worshipers, he figured he'd better have a psyker with him. As they stepped inside they were greeted by a marine in terminator armor. The massive marine simply starred at them, blocking the doorway completely.

"This is the one he was looking for." A now familiar voice from behind them said. Edsin turned around to see the strange looking woman enter the shrine. The marine gave no emotion, but shifted so that Edsin and Alain could squeeze past. "Your comrade will need to wait here though." She said. Edsin glanced back at her, then at Alain. The psyker nodded and leaned up against the wall. He didn't move but Edsin felt a strange chill inside his head. Edsin nodded in return, the psyker had his back.

Edsin moved down the hall and came to a large room. It looked like it was once the central worship space of the shrine. There were several rows of thick wooden pews where the Emperors faithful had once held mass. Now, as outside, the imperial iconography had all been removed, though here it was replaced with metal sigils and symbols of individual chaos gods. The centerpiece of this all was of course the alter. A large golden thing, now with innumerable books, charts, and maps spread out on it. And of course the Dark Apostle that had summoned him here.

Said apostle was dressed in terminator armor like his guard, the armor painted in what Edsin guessed were the Word Bearers colors of dark red and silver. Aside from the paint Edsin could see where the armor had been damaged. Scratches showing through the paint, a few spikes missing their tips here and there, even a bit along one arm where it looked as though a gigantic fish had tried to crush it. To Edsin, whose own carapace armor had a host of similar damages, the armor looked well used. A testament to its wearer's career.

The Apostle was faced away from Edsin, looking at a map laid out on the altar. Even so, Edsin was only halfway through the pews when a surprisingly human voice stopped him.

"Sergeant. Good of you to come." Edsin stopped mid step and tried to decide what he was supposed to say in return, or how to address the chaos marine at all when the Apostle continued. "Tell me. What is Chaos to you?" Edsin was unsure of how to answer the question. What was Chaos to a man like him? He racked his mind for a reply and remembered something Irritus had said.

"Chaos," Edsin began his throat dryer than he remembered. "Is the best hope for humanity." There was silence in the room for a second before Edsin added. "My lord." At this the massive being's armored shoulders shrugged and the Apostle turned to face him. Edsin got a look at a pale face covered in arcane script. Equally pale hair and dark eyes looked at him.

"Those are the words of a true believer, but not spoken as such." A pause here for a moment and he tilted his head to the side as though examining the Sergeant. Edsin tried to remember the proper way to stand at attention, but only managed to slouch a little less. "Chaos is something different to everyone sergeant. More than just a few nice words." Edsin managed a nod at this and the Apostle returned it.

"Come," He said with a gesture to the altar. "See why I have called you here."

~/~/~

Edsin worked his way back through the trenches with Alain moving behind him. In the time his meeting with the Apostle took the earlier activity associated with the marines return and subsequent resupply had mostly calmed down. Now the traitor guardsmen and cultists had settled into the various bunkers and fighting positions that he himself had helped dig. The rain, he noted, had not stopped.

"I don't think it's stopped since we've gotten here." Alain commented with a look at the sky. Edsin glanced up where the psyker was looking and frowned. It was getting dark now, the grey clouds from earlier now even darker as they blocked out the dwindling sunlight. For a moment he wondered what was causing the constant rain. The next moment however, he decided that he didn't care.

The two traitors reached the fighting position they'd repelled the Orks from earlier and ducked under the tarp Irritus had set up. Said cultist was now sitting under the tarp and along with Maria was messing with some boards he'd found somewhere. He looked up as Edsin and Alain entered the dugout and smiled.

"Welcome back Sergeant." He said before addressing Alain. "Could I bother you for a light?" Alain grinned, nodded, and placed his hand on one of the boards. His eyes glazed over and the piece of wood ignited. After a moment the flame caught the rest of the boards and a fire started. Irritus and Maria smiled and put out their hands to warm up and dry from the rain. The sound of servos moving caught everyone's attention and they turned to see Datave duck under the tarp.

"Good evening Sergeant." The heretek said as he climbed into the dugout. "What did the one with the cheap augments want?" Edsin raised an eyebrow at Datave before he realized he meant the woman who'd sent him to the Dark Apostle. He also noticed that the rest of his group was now looking at him as well.

"We've…gotten a mission." Edsin said after a moment. Maria tilted her head to one side.

"A mission." The former battle sister repeated. "What kind of mission?" Edsin pulled an lho stick from a pouch on his kit and lit it on the fire. He took a long drag before he replied.

"Reconnaissance."


	4. Chapter 4

**A/N: Long time no update, I know. I Moved again and then got behind at a new University. Anyway, here's chapter 4. **

"Reconnaissance?" Maria repeated back to Edsin, her tone turning the word into a question. The traitor sergeant nodded and took a drag from the lho stick before pulling a folded paper from a pouch on his kit. Irritus seemed to anticipate the action and placed a wider board from the pile he would be using as firewood in front of Edsin. The paper unfolded to reveal a map of the region and everyone crowded in for a better look.

It was an old map, that much was clear to all of them. The iconography along the edges betrayed its age as being from when the Imperium had held the planet. Before the Word Bearers had come and long before the Orks decided to have a go at it. Edsin pointed to an **IX **symbol on the right side of the map.

"This is our position. With the return of the host the Refinery in no longer surrounded." He gestured with a sweeping motion to the areas east and south of the IX. "These areas are back in our control." He pointed to the west where the Imperial cartographer had drawn in some trees to indicate a forest. "The orks that hit us earlier came from the woods here and the Apostle believes that the Rok they came in on is over there." He pointed to an area just north of the refinery where another drawing depicted a hive city. "Hive Augustus here is also still in greenskin hands." Edsin paused here to take another drag. "That hive is the next target for the Host. The Apostle is waiting for a group of armored regiments to make it here from the other continent and refuel at the refinery. The armor will punch through the ork lines and the Marines will take Hive Augustus." Edsin took a final drag from his lho stick and flicked the remainder into the fire. Next to him Alain nodded.

"I see." The Psyker said. "Then we're to recon the Hive before the assault then?" Maria looked closer at the map.

"The tanks would be most vulnerable to ambush in this area right before the hive so knowing where the likely choke points are would be good." She said. Edsin shook his head.

"That'll be someone else's job." He said as he pointed to a place on the map to the North and West. Well within ork territory. "This is where we're going." Everyone sitting around the map leaned even further in for a good look at the spot on the map he had pointed to. Irritus looked over at Edsin and frowned.

"Sergeant I don't understand, there's nothing there." Edsin starred at Irritus for a moment and nodded.

"That's right. There isn't anything there. No Imperials, no Orks, nothing." Everyone's eyes widened in surprise at this. "The Apostles' ship in orbit has been doing scans of the planet and at this spot, and fifty kilometers in all directions they're not getting anything. Not a single ork is anywhere near there." Alain looked at the sergeant in surprise and pointed to a spot inside the area Edsin had indicated.

"That doesn't make sense, there's a PDF compound within that region. There should be orks looting the entire area." The back of Edsin's mind reminded him that Alain had fought orks before, back when he was a loyalist and not a psyker. Edsin nodded in response.

"And that's what's got the Apostle curious." He said. "And that's why we're going to find out what's up." He shrugged and moved into a more comfortable position. "We're going out tomorrow. The Apostle himself has some kind of transport lined up for us." Irritus tilted his head to one side at this.

"Transport Sergeant?" He asked with his broken teeth. "What kind of transport?"

~/~/~

The roar of the traitor aircraft could be heard over the din of the rain on the pavement. East of the refinery what had once been a wide roadway connecting the industrial plant to the nearest hive had recently been repurposed into an airfield for the traitor craft. Edsin's squad made their way down along the side of the road passing Hellblade fighters and captured Imperial gunships as well as the wrecks of various other vehicles. As they walked Irritus excitedly pointed out the different vehicles and what the icons on sides of them meant. Maria seemed interested, as did Alain, but Edsin only frowned.

He didn't like this. He didn't like being given a mission without knowing what to expect. He didn't like having to care about the Apostles plan. He didn't like having to care and all.

"Good morning Sergeant!" A now familiar, yet still annoying voice called. He also didn't like this being the Apostle had settled him with. The owner of the voice was the same strange guardswoman from yesterday. She had told him her name when the Apostle had instructed her to accompany them but Edsin had already forgotten it. Said guardswoman was waving them over to a traffic pullout where two other humans in strange uniforms waited with her.

"Good Morning Sergeant." The Guardswoman repeated as Edsin and company made it to her position. Edsin responded with a nod and the speaker continued. "I'm glad to see you're here, many would have disappeared in the night." Edsin shrugged.

"We all have to do our part for the Host." Edsin responded without enthusiasm. The guardswoman nodded and motioned to the two men in what the sergeant now recognized as Imperial flight uniforms.

"This is Gav and Mav. They'll be flying us in today."

"Who's Gav and who's Mav?" Irritus asked. Both pilots pointed at the other one.

"He's Gav."

"He's Mav." They said at the same time. The cultist frowned and Maria smirked at that. The guardswoman pointed behind her.

"They're brothers and they're going to give us a lift on their Vendetta." The entire squad turned to look where she was pointing and collectively did a double take.

"That vehicle is in need of maintenance." Their resident heretek said before anyone else. Edsin had mistaken it for another wreck at first. It did look like it had once been a vendetta, but time crude repairs, and a paint job so worn through it was mostly just grey metal with some green patches made it look like junk. Add to that the lascannons looked so worn that Edsin wasn't sure they could still fire with the amount of carbon scoring the muzzles had on them. Gav or perhaps Mav shook his head.

"It'll fly, don't you worry." He said.

"We've been doing loops around the orks all month in it." Mav or maybe Gav added. The strange guardswoman smiled at the pilots then looked at Edsin.

"There you have it. If there's nothing else then let's get moving. The Apostle wants a report before the armor gets here."

~/~/~

Getting into the air proved to be a bit of a challenge. While the Vendetta was capable of vertical takeoff, they still had to clear the air above the runway. This involved flying past, and dodging, the other chaos craft in the area. This lead to more than a few close calls and a burst from a stormbolter. When they finally did get clear, they leapt into the air faster than Edsin ever remember vendettas being able to. He tried to remember the last time he was in a similar craft but failed to.

"Just like at hive Traxis huh, sergeant." Alain said sitting beside him.

'Ah, that's right.' He thought looking at the psyker. Edsin frowned and noted that his memory still seemed to be as poor as ever. He put the thought from his mind and busied himself assessing his squad.

Irritus was, as always, unarmed. The cultist sitting across from him had burdened himself down with spare bolter ammo for Maria as well as ration tins and foodstuffs. Probably a good idea, there was no telling how long they'd be in enemy territory.

Next to him sat Maria. The former sister repentia looked fairly happy as she and Irritus discussed something Edsin couldn't hear over the din of the engine. She was dressed in a set of sororitas power armor that Irritus had removed the aquila's from and painted a large sigil on the front of. The heavy bolter that the armor let her handle sat at her feet.

Across from her was Datave. The tech adept turned heretek was armed with a lasgun, but at the moment was messing with something on his mechanical arm. Edsin never could quite shake the feeling that Datave wasn't all 'there.' It had never been an issue so far, so the sergeant didn't give it any more thought.

Next to Datave was their group's psyker. He was armed with a lasgun as well, but Edsin doubted he'd get much use from it. Alain had the sleeves of his tan guardsmen's uniform rolled up to his elbows, his armor and helmet abandoned a long time ago, and was staring at the ceiling of the transport. Lost in thought that strange way that way only psykers seemed able to be.

Then there was their add-on. Edsin wasn't sure what to make of the strange guardswoman other than trouble. He didn't like how friendly she was with the marines, or the way she'd all but ordered them onto this aircraft. She was armed with a lasgun like him, but Edsin noticed a plasma pistol tucked into a holster around her waist. That was a little flashy for a messenger of an Apostle to be carrying around. The guardswoman caught Edsin looking and grinned.

"Notice this did you?" She said as she pulled the weapon from the holster and held it for all the passengers to see. "A gift from the Apostle." She said a wide grin across her face. "He pulled it from the hands of his imperial counterpart." Edsin managed a slow nod, though most of his companions' expressions betrayed how impressed they were. The heretek, however, was the first to speak up.

"It looks like an old model, probably unsafe for the user." He said, still fiddling with his metal arm. The guardswoman frowned and holstered the weapon. Edsin was bored again and decided to ask for more details about the mission.

"Well," The guardswoman began, grinning again in barely suppressed pride. "The Apostle believes that-" She was cut off as the aircraft lurched to the side. The craft was making a hard turn left and then began a sharp dive. Edsin and company all grabbed their restraints and any equipment, though one of the bolter cans went flying before Irritus could grab it. They leveled out and the guardswoman unhooked her restraint, ran to the edge of the cockpit, and pressed the intercom.

"What in the Eye was that?" She shrieked into the vox. A burst of static and Gav, or perhaps Mav, responded.

"Evasive maneuvers." One of the brothers replied. Edsin unhooked and started moving up to the vox as well. "Ork Fighters." No sooner had he said that then Edsin saw something red flash past the vendetta out the window of the right. It was too fast to see but a second yellow object flew past slower than the first and Edsin recognized the distinctive swept wings of a Dakka Jet.

The Vendetta lurched again, this time coming straight up, before going right and levelling out again. Edsin pushed the guardswoman out of the way and keyed the wall vox.

"How many fighters?" He asked. He heard the lascannons mounted on the side of their flyer discharge, making a crackling sound as they cut through the air around them.

"Five of 'em." Gav or Mav replied, their tone suggesting they were occupied by the ork craft. Edsin looked around the hold they were in for something he could use and spotted a pair of heavy bolters on swing mounts next to the two side doors. He pointed to Alain and Datave and then to the heavy weapons. Both men nodded and started unhooking themselves. Edsin keyed the vox again as the vendetta went back right and the lascannons cracked again.

"Can you open these side doors?" He asked. There was more static and a pause before one of the brothers responded.

"Uh, sure." The lascannons cracked again. "Why?" Edsin shook his head even though he knew neither man could see the gesture.

"Just be ready open them when we say too." He looked to his psyker and heretek who'd moved to the heavy bolters. Both men gave him a thumbs up. He nodded and gestured to Maria. Both her and Irritus unstrapped themselves and started moving to him.

"Umm, Sergeant," The guardswoman started. "What are you-" Edsin pointed Irritus to the vox and the cultist nodded. Maria came up next to Irritus and the traitor-sergeant pointed to the flyers rear ramp. She nodded and worked the bolt on her weapon. "Sergeant…?" The guardswoman tried again.

Edsin ignored her and ran for the other end of the vendetta. He reached the back ramp and keyed the vox there.

"I need you to get them behind us." He said. The craft lurched, this time making another dive and banking farther right. The response he got back from one of the brothers was almost screamed.

"Where the fuck do you think they are now!" A burst of high caliber rounds pinged off the outside of the hull to empathize Gav or Mav's point. Edsin smiled and grabbed the lever to open the ramp. At the same time Irritus shouted into the vox.

"Open the side doors!"

~/~/~

All at once the traitor forces were greeted by a sight of pure aerial death. There were four of the ork aircraft behind them, all with multiple gun barrels protruding from their wings in a seemly random fashion. Edsin looked at the nearest flyer. A red painted jet close enough that he could see the ork piloting it's expression change to surprise, then to a wide toothy grin. The back of Edsin's mind registered that the guardswoman had come up behind him.

"Sergeant, why the hell did-" Edsin cut her off with a shouted command.

"FIRE!" He held onto the side of the vendetta with one hand and reached around the guardswoman's waist with the other, pulling her out of Maria's line of fire. With the way clear, all three heavy bolters opened fire on the trailing flyers. The explosive, large caliber rounds bore massive holes into the ork aircraft, ripping the right wing off the closest flyer and sending it into a nose dive. The other three flyers all swerved to avoid the bolter fire. The two on the vendetta's flanks deciding to bank towards the center at the same time to avoid the side mounted bolters only to collide with each other. The two jets collided canopy to canopy and burst into a fireball large enough to cause the last one to be pushed sideways. Its pilot managed to steady the aircraft only to be met by a hail of well-placed bolter rounds from Maria. The burst destroyed the small cockpit and Edsin watched the ork aircraft slowly drift off, it's pilot not dead so much as a new paint job for the interior. Edsin nodded in approval and keyed the vox.

"Where's the last one?" He asked the pilots. There was another pause and the vendetta began to bank back left.

"He broke off." One of the brothers said.

"You must'a scared him off." The other commented." Edsin frowned and pulled the lever back up. The rear door began to close and only then did the traitor sergeant realize he still had an arm around the guardswoman's waist. With nothing more for her to get in the way of he let her go. For her part the guardswoman seemed out of breath, though she composed herself fast enough.

"Good work sergeant." She said putting a hand on his shoulder. "I've never heard of anyone scarring orks before." Edsin looked at the hand then up at the taller guardswoman.

"That's because I didn't." He replied. "Orks don't scare easy, and even a scared ork wouldn't run from a fight." Datave, the only one who'd been keeping track besides the pilots, noticed that'd they'd just entered the 50 kilometer radius that the orks had been keeping out of.

~/~/~

Below them, hidden in the trees, a warrior that was not an ork raised a large weapon and pointed it at the crudely painted and poorly maintained vendetta that had just moved into range. Eyes that were far older than its target focused on the vehicle and a finger tightened on the trigger. Just as it was about to fire its companion placed a hand on its shoulder. The two beings looked at each other and nodded. The first lowered the weapon and they ran off further into the woods.

**A/N: Thoughts, comments, observations? I'd love to hear them! **


End file.
